Arsenal’s manager, Arsene Wenger has vowed to take the game to Bayern Munich when the Bundesliga giants visit the Emirates Stadium in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Bayern have made a fine start in Group F, winning both of their matches, while Arsenal have fallen to shock defeats at the hands of Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiacos.
With back-to-back games against 2013 winners Bayern to come, Arsenal need an immediate upturn in fortunes if they are to avoid crashing out in the group stages of the competition for the first time since 1998-99.
Despite the daunting task of facing a Bayern side who have won 12 in a row in all competitions, Wenger is buoyed by his own team’s recent good form.
“We’re on a perfect run in the Premier League, and on the other hand it was perfect preparation for Bayern because we had no injuries and got the three points,” Wenger said following the 3-0 win at Watford at the weekend.
“We are now in a position where we can really focus and give it everything on Tuesday night. I will have to see how we prepare for this game now and how we want to approach it.
“The confidence is there, the required result is there and we know exactly what is needed. Even a 0-0 draw is not good enough, so to score goals we will have to attack.
“If you can arrange for us to be 3-0 in 20 minutes, like we were against Manchester United, I will put you in charge for Tuesday night. That would be ideal, but it is difficult to plan [that] – we did not plan to be 3-0 [up] after 20 minutes against United.
“What we want to do is to play up to our level because that is what is needed against a big team.
“It is true that we have won before in Europe when everyone else thought it was not possible, but we want to do it again because we felt the pain was inflicted by ourselves.
“Maybe, subconsciously, we thought, ‘Anyway, we will win these’ [against Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiacos] – now, to correct it, we need a great performance.”